Seeking D&D source material for ranger kit

[ericp07]

Hello,

 

My plan to attempt to create a joinable NPC mod will include creating the kit (and making it available to ranger protagonists), the Needle of Mielikki. The source material appeared in print, in one of the AD&D 2nd Edition books, either the hardcover Forgotten Realms book or one of the smaller books in the box set, I don't recall. I haven't owned copies of any 2nd Ed materials since switching to 3e and then 3.5e, so I'd very much like to know if anyone has the information about Mielikki's specialty priests in the Realms, so I can use the information to build the kit for BGII. Any pointers in the direction of enlightenment will be greatly appreciated!

 

On a somewhat related note, I'm curious as to reporting the progress of this project, once it's underway. Should I create a little Web site devoted to it, or should I simply post to modding forums such as this one? I'm guaranteed to have many questions

 

Thanks and happy gaming,

Eric

[Daulmakan]

From Faith & Avatars:

 

The Needles are rangers. They are considered to be the most beloved of the Lady of the Forest. They sometimes serve as clergy, but most often act as the warrior arm of the faith and serve a defensive role protecting the forests from marauders, humanoids, and the followers of the god Malar. Included in this branch is a small religious order of druid/ranger woodland knights known as the Shadoweirs.

 

Specialty Priests (Rangers)

REQUIREMENTS: Strength 13, Dexterity 13, Constitution 14, Wisdom 14

PRIME REQ.: Strength, Dexterity, Wisdom

ALIGNMENT: LG, NG, CG

WEAPONS: Any

ARMOR: Any (penalties to some special abilities accrue if wearing heavier armor than studded leather)

MINOR SPHERES: Animal, plant, time, travelers

MAGICAL ITEMS: Same as ranger

REQ. PROFS: Survival (woodland)

BONUS PROFS: Hunting, set snares, animal lore, elvish (pick three)

 

Most of Mielikki’s specialty priests are rangers. Within the faith, they are called Needles. Their abilities and restrictions, aside from changes noted above, are detailed in full in the Player’s Handbook.

 

There are no special benefits as with most kits/specialty priests, so you'll have to spice them up a little.

[Guest erik]

TSR 9516 - Faiths & Avatars, 1996, ISBN 0-7869-0384-8

 

... has what you're looking for, at least. Speciality rangers, druids, and druid/rangers of Mielikki.

 

Several pages of details I don't feel like transcribing. But you know where to look, at least. (abebooks.com is your friend)

 

(Daulmakan: there are the special spells to spice things up, at least. Stalk and Wood Sword, for example.)

[Daulmakan]

(Daulmakan: there are the special spells to spice things up, at least. Stalk and Wood Sword, for example.)

A whole new kit based solely on a couple of spells? I don't think that alone is gonna cut it (for me at least). Plus, Stalk is like nature's version of Invisibility, and Wood Sword is nothing to write home about.

[ericp07]

Thanks so much for the 411, all! Yes, I agree that the kit doesn't pack a lot of punch as written. I figure it was an attempt to allow rangers to be specialty priests. So, if indeed I create the kit (and now I'm contemplating making more work out of it, writing the druid and/or druid/ranger kit (subkit?)), I'll spice it up with more specials.

 

Someone wrote a variant of the D&D ranger class for 3.x rules, and I modified it further to greatly expand the class (it's my favorite, if you couldn't tell ). Perhaps I'll pull some details from my variant to incorporate into the kit.

 

Thinking further on this, it might be a good idea (?) to also have followers of Malar showing up in the game at random, in outside wilderness areas. I could also introduce a powerful creature that also comes from the D&D materials. I think it's called the Beast of Malar, but I'll have to double-check. It's an Outsider, not unique (so there's the possibility of baddies summoning one), and has vicious special attacks.

 

I'll likely want to make each component of this project an option to select (or exclude) at install.

 

Further input always welcome!

 

Happy gaming,

Eric

[Starcrunch]

This has all of the info on Mielikki in the 2nd ed. book Faiths and Avatars.

 

-Starcrunch

[Miloch]

I'm sure there's more to the kit than just a couple (rehashed) spells. As erik suggests, there's probably several pages of stuff to be mined from Faiths & Avatars. And even if not, people have made kits based on far less (wildly successful ones at that).

On a somewhat related note, I'm curious as to reporting the progress of this project, once it's underway. Should I create a little Web site devoted to it, or should I simply post to modding forums such as this one? I'm guaranteed to have many questions

Don't post about it at all. Keep everything Top Secret until you're ready to release, then spring it upon the unsuspecting populace full-blown and bug-free . Heh. Ok, well if you have questions, obviously, post those in the forums. There are plenty of folks to help (well, I think there are anyway... sometimes you have to get their attention...).

[ericp07]

For all that's printed about Mielikki's faith, most of it is flavor text (but even that is good source material for banters, if nothing else). Since the game keeps track of calendar time, I wonder if it's possible to trigger certain events or dialog based on the calendar date. I don't always remember which Realms month corresponds to which of our (Gregorian calendar) months, but I do know that followers of Realms deities observe holidays, and it might be interesting to incorporate something appropriate if the right date comes up during the game...

 

Yeah, secrecy appeals to a Scorpio like myself I already have issues with NearInfinity that involve character editing that I need to bring up in a forum such as this, so I'll definitely appeal to the good folks here and on a couple other sites as needed. Full credit will go to those who help me to realize this whole concept.

 

Thanks,

Eric